VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 6/29/10)—The 162 churches participating in The Penny Project, sponsored by American Baptist Home Mission Societies, have collected more than three million pennies to raise awareness of child poverty and to support programs that serve these children and their families.

The project, which launched a year ago, was inspired by 60,000 pennies gathered by youth of First Baptist Church, New London, N.H., to represent the number of children living in poverty in their state.  The Penny Project’s ultimate 14 million penny goal is based on the number of children whose lives are constrained by poverty across the United States and Puerto Rico.

American Baptist churches participating in the project are discovering that the lessons learned often extend beyond helping children.  At Mount Zion Baptist Church in Madison, Wis., the penny jar used to collect coins offered a teachable moment for lessons about forgiveness and redemption. Visit the www.abhms.org home page for the full, inspiring story along with a podcast featuring a minister and a youth from the church talking about the experience.

Has your church signed on to this nationwide effort on behalf of children? With more than 11 million pennies still needed to reach the goal, this is your congregation’s chance to be part of something really big, to make an impact and learn a lesson or two along the journey, too.

Contact Lisa Harris, national coordinator, Children in Poverty Initiative/Christian Center Relations, at American Baptist Home Mission Societies (800-222-3872, x2158, or lisa.harris@abhms.org) for more information.

Sign on to start collecting pennies and make a difference for children today at www.abhms.org.

American Baptist Home Mission Societies ministers as the caring heart, serving hands, going feet and prophetic voice of Jesus Christ, bringing God’s transformative love—through chaplains and pastoral counselors, urban Christian centers, American-Baptist related colleges and seminaries, volunteer mission trips and much more—to individuals, churches and communities across the United States and Puerto Rico.

American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with 5,500 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.